Payback
by Louise Hargadon
Summary: TAG2015. Daft oneshot set about a week after the episode Falling Skies. When Gordon promises he'll pay someone back for pranking him, it should always be remembered that the young Mr Tracy is indeed a man of his word...


_**A/N:** I know what you're thinking. "Piggin' 'ell, not ANOTHER **Gordon** pranking his brothers story?!" Well, let me tell you. Yes. Yes it is. I regret nothing. The way he said, "Payback's comin'!" so nonchalantly to **Virgil** at the end of **Falling Skies** should have struck fear into the hearts of all listeners!_

 _Dedicated with the squishiest of hugs to **Mon Ammy** , and to all **Virgil's Vixens** out there from your ever-loving **Gordon Groupie**. You gals know who you are._

 _ **Disclaimer:** The **Andersons** are responsible for the original **Thunderbirds**. Some other people are responsible for the new Thunderbirds. I am responsible for nothing. Ask anyone, I'm the most irresponsible person they know. This is probably why I like Gordon so much._

 **Payback**

It had been one hell of a day. It was only eleven-thirty in the morning, and it felt as though it must surely be time for bed soon.

Virgil had had one of those mornings where, from the moment he opened his eyes, nothing went right. Alan had used the last of the milk on his Cinnamon Grahams, so he had no option but to drink his coffee black, which always gave him a headache. As soon as he pressed the coffee machine's 'On' switch, the machine made several worryingly loud whirring sounds and then a flash of light was followed by smoke billowing out of the top of the machine. Brains had told him that the technical term for it was 'on the f-fritz'. His toast had burned. The piano needed tuning, which was strange because he was sure he'd only tuned it himself a week ago. His pencil snapped halfway through a drawing. He didn't dare go outside in case he fell and broke his neck. It would be just his luck. Anyone would think the universe had it in for him that morning.

"I dunno why you're moping around the place with a face like a slapped ass, Kiddo!" Grandma said in her usual gentle and breezy manner, which was neither particularly gentle nor especially breezy.

"I'm having the morning from all hell, Grandma. Nothing's gone right. I can't even have coffee!" Virgil said, feeling a little guilty about how uncharacteristically whiny he sounded, but the lack of caffeine in his system preventing him from caring too much about it.

"Nobody can have coffee since you broke the machine!"

"I didn't break the machine, I was the one who discovered the fault in it!"

"It blew up in your face."

"Yes, and as a result, I saved it from blowing up in your face. You're. _Welcome_ ," Virgil said, before turning around and flouncing off to his bedroom. He couldn't remember the last time he had flounced anywhere in such a degree of high dudgeon, but he felt strangely empowered by it and resolved to flounce more often.

"What's eating him?" Grandma asked nobody in particular.

"Ah, he's just having a bad day, Grandma," Gordon said cheerfully, as he shoved an entire round of toast into his mouth at once. Grandma eyed him suspiciously.

"What did you do?" she asked, hands on her hips and peering over the top of her glasses. Gordon looked at her, a hamster-cheeked picture of wide-eyed innocence.

"Mmmm?" he mumbled, batting his eyelashes. Grandma shook her head and sighed.

"Let's just hope you haven't put superglue on his toothbrush again. He's still got a scar on his tongue from the last time," she muttered as she wandered out onto the patio.

Gordon grinned to himself and let out a snort of laughter that sent half-chewed toast crumbs flying everywhere.

Virgil slammed his bedroom door behind him with a satisfying _BANG_! Out of all the Tracy boys, he needed caffeine to function more than the others put together. Otherwise, his inner temperamental artist would surface and he would turn into something of a diva. He felt guilty. He didn't like being so grumpy first thing of a morning, but families did test one's patience to the absolute limit - especially pre-coffee.

"Maybe I'll get a shower. That oughtta wake me up," he decided aloud. He grabbed a clean towel from the top of his laundry pile and headed into the shower.

There was always something therapeutic about taking a shower, especially when one didn't have to time yourself to three minutes and so could spend a little time thinking about the mysteries of life, making sure every last inch got a good scrub-down. Virgil especially liked the occasions when he could take an extra few seconds to simply stand under the running water, the powered jets of water pounding onto the knots between his shoulder blades and thoroughly relaxing him, making him feel as though he was quite, quite ready to face anything that life could throw at him. Even one of Gordon's pranks. That was all he needed to put the cherry on the cake of this already thoroughly rotten day.

He let out a shout of pain when he accidentally got shampoo in his eyes. He cupped water into the palms of his hands to try and rinse his eyes out but found it didn't help much. Screwing his eyes shut, he groped the air as he felt for his towel. When he found it, he scrubbed his face and dried around his eyes carefully. He blinked a few times to try and focus, and his gaze inadvertently caught his reflection in the mirror.

A cry of anguish rang out through Tracy Villa.

" _ **GORDON**_!"

Gordon let out a cackle of laughter and hopped onto the sofa, picking up the nearest reading material and pretending to be engrossed in it, even though he was holding it upside down. He could hear Virgil stampeding toward him like a charging elephant.

"Say, Virge, what's up, buddy? You look a little blue!" Scott said with a grin. Virgil glowered at him with as much venom as his now-shredded dignity could manage.

"Frickin' hilarious," he growled. Scott chuckled as he leaned against the wall and folded his arms, watching Virgil's march toward Gordon with interest. He still only had a towel on and was leaving a trail of water droplets and very visible footprints in his wake. Scott suddenly thought that if Gordon were to mysteriously vanish in the next few minutes, the police would have no trouble finding where Virgil had hidden the body.

"Gosh, Virgil, shouldn't you get dressed? You look a little cold!" Kayo said innocently. Virgil looked at her.

"Don't," he warned. Kayo burst out laughing and walked over to join Scott in watching the action unfold from a very safe distance.

"I gotta get John in on this," Scott whispered to her. She giggled and nodded, and Scott quickly alerted John.

"What's up?" John asked. Scott put his finger to his lips.

"Shhh. Looks like Virgil just got burned after his shower prank on Gordon last week," he whispered. John looked over in the direction Scott was pointing and covered his mouth with his hands in surprise, trying desperately to control his laughter.

"Wow. When Gordon goes into all-out revenge prank mode, he really does it in style, huh?" he asked. Scott nodded and couldn't control another chuckle.

"Gordon!" Virgil said, rogue droplets of water from his shower still dripping onto the floor.

"Whaddup, Aqua Smurf?!" Gordon said, not looking up from his paper.

"What. Did you. Do?" Virgil asked, physically shaking with anger. Gordon looked up at him and paused for a few moments, admiring his handiwork.

Virgil's skin was bright blue, from his scalp to the soles of his feet. Even the whites of his eyes looked a little on the azure side. A trail of blue footprints led from his bedroom to his current position in the middle of the living room.

"I put blue dye powder in your shower head, of course," he answered in a calm voice, shrugging and shaking his head dismissively at the apparent insensibility of Virgil's question.

"I look like an extra from Avatar!" Virgil shouted. Gordon chuckled.

"Hey, what's the big deal, bro? At least you're clean!"

"This isn't about last week is it?" Virgil asked, realisation suddenly dawning on him.

"I told you, man - payback's coming!"

"Gordon!"

"I'm a man of my word, Megamind! A man of my word!" Gordon said, a huge, rather smug grin now completely fixed to his face. Virgil's shoulders dropped.

"Does it wash off?" he asked, a little mournfully. Gordon shrugged.

"Dunno, didn't read the instructions. I guess so," he said, carelessly. "Give it a week or so."

"But! But! We have rescues to go on! I can't save people looking like this!" he protested.

"Hey, cheer up, Dory," Gordon said, standing up and patting Virgil comfortingly on his big, blue shoulder. "At least I'm not stopping you from impressing the ladies. Check out Kayo, she's not taken her eyes off you since you walked in the room!" he said, pointing over to where Kayo was busy burying her face into Scott's shoulder to stifle her laughter. Virgil sighed and hung his head. Blue droplets of water fell onto the floor and splashed onto his feet.

"You're not gonna be happy until you've called me the name of every blue character you can think of, are you?" Virgil asked. Gordon pursed his lips for a moment in mock-contemplation and shook his head.

"Get used to it, Cookie Monster!" he said with a wink. Virgil nodded and let out a sigh before turning to go back to his room. He'd played with fire and he'd been well and truly burned. It was a tough lesson to learn, but there was no way he could go up against the PrankMeister Extraordinaire himself and come off the victor. Why, any one of the things that had happened that morning could have been down to Gordon, but this - he didn't see it coming. Virgil stopped suddenly in his tracks, frowning in contemplation, which looked hilarious as he was still bright blue and he could feel his now-sodden towel start to slip a little around his waist.

"Say, Gords," he began.

"Mm-hmm?"

"It was just the shower prank, right? That's all you did today?" Virgil asked, turning back to face him. Gordon was silent for a few moments too long.

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to sound casual but his voice adopting an unmistakable quaver of worry.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about the explosive coffee machine this morning?"

"Gosh! Something happened to the coffee machine?" Gordon asked, his eyes wide with surprise. Virgil frowned. "Gee, that's really awful."

"And how about my piano?"

"How about your piano?"

"It's very out of tune."

"Aww, man! It just isn't your day at all, is it, buddy?" Gordon asked, shaking his head sympathetically. Virgil clutched the top of his towel just in time before he lost it altogether. "Watch out, Virge. Nobody wants to see the Blue Fairy before dinner," he added with a grin.

"It was _all_ you, wasn't it?" Virgil asked. Gordon threw his head back and let out a loud groan of frustration.

"I couldn't pick one!" he protested. "They were all so good!" Virgil's face now took on a purplish tinge, as he normally would have gone red with anger at this point.

"That is IT!" he shouted. "You owe me!"

"Okay, okay, two free pranks. No comebacks," Gordon said, holding his hands up in defeat. "It's worth it just to see your decaffienated blue face!"

"Oh yeah?" Virgil asked, as threateningly as he could. Gordon suddenly looked genuinely concerned. "Let me tell you something, my friend - revenge is a dish best served cold. You better watch yourself!" he said dramatically, before turning his back on Gordon and squelching back through the hallway to get to his bedroom. Gordon gulped loudly.

"Who the hell got blue footprints all over my nice clean floors?!" Grandma shouted, walking in just as Virgil had left.

"Gordon!" Virgil, Kayo and Scott shouted in unison. Gordon's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Guys!" he protested. Grandma glared at him, her arms folded, tapping her foot expectantly. He sighed in resignation and shook his head. "Okay, Grandma, I'll clean up," he said in a resigned tone.

"Damn right you will. It's the least you can do for turning your brother into Sonic the Hedgehog," Grandma said with a firm nod as she headed back into the kitchen.

As soon as she was out of earshot, she let out a snort of laughter. Sometimes, she didn't know whether those boys would be the death of her, or if they were the only ones that kept her going.

 **THE END**


End file.
